The War on Cars
Episodes
Paved Paradise with Henry Grabar
23 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
All car trips begin and end with a place to park, making a parking space "nothing less than the link between driving and life itself." In his new book...
TEASER: Discovering Oil with Amy Westervelt
16 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Weird things happen when you're an investigative reporter trying to cover an international oil giant like ExxonMobil. Your plane tickets are mysteriou...
Arrested Mobility with Charles Brown
09 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In Huntsville, Alabama, it's illegal to play ball on any street, alley, or sidewalk. In Lewiston, Maine, pedestrians must keep to the right half of th...
TEASER: Into the Fold with Brompton's Will Butler-Adams
25 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On our last episode, we mentioned the brief cameo that a Brompton folding bicycle had on season 2 of Ted Lasso and why that bicycle model in particul...
Why Does Hollywood Hate Bikes?
11 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Chances are, if a character rides a bicycle in a movie or TV show that character is a huge loser. From The 40-Year-Old Virgin to Arrested Development,...
TEASER: You Can't Afford to Live Here Because of Cars
28 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What if we told you that some of the biggest, most exciting, and potentially transformative victories in The War on Cars are being fought and won thes...
CONSPIRACY!
21 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"15-minute cities" are having a moment, and not exactly in a good way. How did a mundane urban planning concept turn into the latest grist for the cul...
Feminist City with Leslie Kern
07 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
EPISODE 101: FEMINIST CITY WITH LESLIE KERN Cities have almost always been designed by men, prioritizing men's needs as defined by the traditional mal...
TEASER: Super Bowl Roundup
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's our annual Super Bowl roundup, where we analyze the car ads that ran during the Big Game and ask what they say about driving and, more important...
The War on Cars Turns 100
21 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This marks the 100th episode of The War on Cars, and we're feeling pretty good about it! In our centenary edition, we go all the way back to Episode 1...
TEASER: Cars, Consumerism and Climate
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What does the recent culture-war freakout over gas stoves have in common with efforts to maybe, possibly, just a little, pretty please, slightly redu...
Car Brain with Dr. Ian Walker
31 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Is it acceptable to harm another person? To steal someone's private property? To bend health and safety rules just to save a few minutes or make more ...
The High Cost of Free Parking with Donald Shoup
17 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Parking is at the heart of every fight about how we build our cities and towns, with effects that go far beyond transportation. Minimum parking requir...
Deconstructing Muscle Car City
03 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In Part 1, Welcome to Muscle Car City, we met Denys da Menace, a young New York City guy who does "donuts" and "burnouts" in a souped-up Dodge Charge...
RERELEASE: There Are No Accidents with Jessie Singer
27 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
***Happy holidays! This is a rerelease of our interview with Jessie Singer, the author of There Are No Accidents, which originally came out in Februar...
TEASER: What We Knew About Elon
20 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It's been hard to escape the ongoing disaster that is Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. But anyone who has been paying attention to Musk's understandi...
Three is the Magic Number with Mike Radenbaugh
13 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We headed over to our sponsor Rad Power Bikes' new Brooklyn showroom last week to meet with founder and CEO Mike Radenbaugh and test drive his newly l...
Muscle Car City: We Are in the Movie
06 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the spring of 2021, War on Cars co-host Aaron Naparstek started noticing lots of big loud muscle cars rumbling around New York City emblazoned with...
TEASER: Deleted Scenes with Dan Savage
29 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
***This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive, ad-free bonus episode. Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars for access to this and all of our bo...
TEASER: Soccer and Cities with Tesho Akindele
22 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
***This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive, ad-free bonus episode. Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars for access to this and all of our ex...
Make Love Not Cars with Dan Savage
15 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Savage, the writer and activist behind the long-running advice column Savage Love, does not have a driver's license. In fact, he pretty much hate...
Walking the Walk with Jonathon Stalls
01 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jonathon Stalls doesn't approach the streetscape as a planner or as a journalist or as a politician. He approaches it — and this is his term — as ...
Making Milwaukee a Bike City
18 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Late last summer, Doug headed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and decided to see if anything bikey was going on. As luck would have it, a kids' ride organized...
Welcome to Muscle Car City
04 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
You see a lot of muscle cars on New York City streets these days. And with their modified mufflers and overpowered engines, you hear them too. Co-host...
The War on Cars Heats Up
20 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Summer is over, but honking season is just getting started. After a short delay — due to circumstances described in this episode — The War on Cars...
Better Living by Bicycle with George Hahn
13 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Our first episode of the month is running late so here's a bonus from earlier this year to tide you over. We'll be back soon! It's kind of hard to pin...
TEASER: 'Shade of Trespass' with Garnette Cadogan
30 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
***This is a preview of a bonus episode for our Patreon supporters. Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars for ad-free access to this and all...
All Bodies on Bikes with Marley Blonsky
16 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Marley Blonsky, a bike adventurer and advocate for inclusive cycling communities, is the co-founder of All Bodies on Bikes, a group that aims to help ...
TEASER: Tech Won't Save Transportation with Paris Marx
28 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
***This is a preview of a short bonus episode for our Patreon supporters. Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars for ad-free access to this a...
Distracted to Death
18 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Traffic fatalities in the U.S. are at a 16-year high. One reason? Driver distraction. Today's automobiles are loaded with an almost cinematic level of...
Tesla is a Fraud with Ed Niedermeyer
28 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Journalist Edward Niedermeyer has been reporting on the automobile industry -- and its blind spots -- since 2008. He co-hosts the Autonocast podcast, ...
How to Save a Planet with Kendra Pierre-Louis
14 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kendra Pierre-Louis, a climate reporter and co-host of the Gimlet Media podcast How to Save a Planet, joins us to discuss storytelling in an age of c...
Two Wheels Good with Jody Rosen
31 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
According to Jody Rosen, a contributing writer for The New York Times, we live on a bicycle planet. Across the world, more people use bicycles — fo...
Infiltrating the Auto Show II
26 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The New York International Auto Show was back and bigger than ever... and so were the cars. Our intrepid correspondents Sarah and Doug braved the crow...
They Paved r/place and Put Up a Parking Lot
12 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From the joy of the "Just a Minute" campaign in San Francisco to the members of a colorfully named subreddit creating a digital parking lot, there's a...
The Pedestrian
29 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Back in 1952, the great American science fiction writer Ray Bradbury published a short story called "The Pedestrian" in a small antifascist publicatio...
Pain at the Pump
16 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Spurred by post-pandemic demand and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, gas prices surged past $4 per gallon last week and Americans are suddenly freaking o...
SPECIAL: Ghost Train
09 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Back in 2004, Denver-area voters supported one of the most ambitious transit projects anywhere in the United States. The plan called for a network of ...
TEASER: The Godfathers of Disinformation
28 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
***This is a preview of a short bonus episode for our Patreon supporters. Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars for ad-free access to this and...
Vapor Bowl Tailgate Party with Amy Westervelt
22 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What do robot dogs, Meadow Soprano, WeatherTech bumper protectors and Dr. Evil have in common? They were al featured in ads during Super Bowl LVI, tha...
TEASER: Jessie Singer on the Problem with Public Service Campaigns
18 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
***This is a preview of a bonus episode. Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars for ad-free access to this and all our exclusive content.*** Je...
There Are No Accidents with Jessie Singer
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What do we mean when we say something is an "accident"? When a motorist kills a pedestrian or cyclist it is often described in the press and the crimi...
What Uber Hath Wrought [Rerelease]
08 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
[This episode was originally released on October 16, 2019. We are re-releasing it in anticipation of the premiere on Showtime of the original dramatic...
The End of Uber with Cory Doctorow
26 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Remember when Uber, the mobile phone taxi-hailing app, was going to revolutionize transportation, transform cities, and lead us to our glorious robot-...
TEASER: Let's Crush These Dirt Bikes with Alex Pareene
18 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
***This is a preview of a short bonus episode just for Patreon supporters. Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars for ad-free access to this ...
311 is a Joke with Alex Pareene
11 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Alex Pareene, a contributing editor to The New Republic and the author of The AP (Alex Pareene) Newsletter, joins the podcast to talk about his recen...
TEASER: Cars as a Virus with Hermann Knoflacher
05 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
***This is a preview of a bonus episode. Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars for ad-free access to this and all our exclusive content.*** Pe...
Curbing Traffic with Melissa and Chris Bruntlett
27 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2019, Melissa and Chris Bruntlett and their two children moved from Vancouver to the small city of Delft in the Netherlands. The experience of tran...
Smells Like Teen Climate Anxiety
21 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Young people want to live. It seems kind of basic, right? Anyone over the age of 35 or so probably grew up thinking that the desire to live was someth...
Live in New York with Choire Sicha
14 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On Tuesday, November 2nd, 2021, The War on Cars recorded a live show at Caveat on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Our special guest for the evening ...
Not Just Bikes with Jason Slaughter
30 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jason Slaughter is the creator of Not Just Bikes, the wildly popular YouTube channel that covers urban design and daily living in the Netherlands. J...
Third Anniversary Mailbag
22 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
To celebrate the podcast's third anniversary (how did that happen?) we open up the listener mailbag and field your questions and comments. Is it time ...
TEASER: Hashtag Ban Cars With Michael Hobbes
12 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
***This is a preview of a short bonus episode just for Patreon supporters. Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars for ad-free access to this an...
You're Wrong About Bikes with Michael Hobbes
08 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What does bikelash have in common with moral panics? Has Paris really descended into anarchy because of all the cyclists? Are e-bikes and scooters the...
Lab Meat and Electric Cars with Alicia Kennedy
26 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Alicia Kennedy is a food writer whose weekly newsletter covers the way food culture intersects with politics, media, labor rights and climate change. ...
Return of the Vermonter
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On July 19, 2020, Amtrak restarted passenger rail service on its Vermonter line after a 16-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. You wouldn't nec...
The E-Bike Radicalization of Jessica Valenti
21 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jessica Valenti, the noted feminist writer, was curious about e-bikes. So, as one does, she posted a question about them to Twitter. Thus began her pa...
SUMMER SPECIAL: Meet Mr. Barricade
31 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode was originally released as a Patreon exclusive. Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars for bonus episodes, early releases and more...
SUMMER SPECIAL: Being Gary Fisher, the Interview
18 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
To celebrate the last days of summer, we're re-releasing our Patreon special interview with the man who introduced the world to mountain biking: Gary ...
TEASER: Going Viral With Tom Flood
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tom Flood used to work in the ad industry in Toronto on campaigns for clients in the auto industry. Today he's a bit of a rebel and uses the power of...
A Word From Our Listeners
28 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We held our very first War on Cars Meetup in Brooklyn a few weekends ago. We actually started planning this event almost two years ago but, you know.....
TEASER: Way Too Many Tech Bros
14 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It sure was a busy week for our transportation tech bro overlords. Elon Musk announced a deal to build another one of his car tunnels beneath the wate...
God Help Us, It's Really Infrastructure Week
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Breaking News! Following weeks of negotiations, and as a mind-boggling heat wave settled on the Pacific Northwest, President Joe Biden and a bipartisa...
The One Where They Go Back to the Studio
15 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We're vaxxed and we're back. In this very special reunion episode, Sarah, Doug and Aaron return to the studio for the first time in fifteen months. Fi...
TEASER: Building LEGO Cities with Sean Kenney
10 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
***This is a quick preview of a bonus episode. Become a Patreon Supporter of The War on Cars for access to the complete episode and all our exclusive ...
Where are the Bike Lanes In Lego City?
07 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why are there no bike lanes in LEGO City? That's a question Marcel Steeman, a regional councillor in the Netherlands, asked himself one day in 2016 wh...
TEASER: Meet Mr. Barricade
28 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Combine a deep love of cities and urban planning with a penchant for wearing stylish suits, smooth dance moves set to Swedish rap music and a curious ...
The Driver
03 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This show usually focuses on the victims of traffic violence, and that is where the focus belongs. But in this episode, we hear the first-person story...
TEASER: The Miracle Pill with Peter Walker
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
From cities built for driving at the expense of walking and cycling to jobs that keep people sitting at their desks all day and neighborhoods where ch...
The Emperor's New Tunnel
20 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Two years after it was first announced, a tunnel project in Las Vegas by Elon Musk's Boring Company was finally revealed to the world. Originally conc...
It's Finally Infrastructure Week
03 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
From "sexy bike lanes" to just what constitutes a "bicycle accident," transportation is making headlines like never before. Aaron, Sarah and Doug are ...
TEASER: Lessons from Copenhagen with Mikael Colville-Andersen
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mikael Colville-Andersen is an urban designer, TV host and writer whose name is practically synonymous with Copenhagen, bicycling and smart urban desi...
Jamelle Bouie Has Seen the Future of Transportation
15 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie has been riding an electric-assist bicycle around Charlottesville, Virginia for almost a year now, and he is co...
The Power of E-Bikes with Congressman Earl Blumenauer
02 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Electric bikes shorten commutes, flatten hills and make cycling accessible to anyone who might need a boost. They're also great tools for replacing ca...
Housing for People, Not Cars
22 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What would it be like to walk out of your home and see other people instead of cars? Can you imagine opening your door and letting your kids run aroun...
Episode LVIII
09 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Super Bowl is more than a football game — it's a massive opportunity for the automobile industry to inject slickly produced propaganda directly ...
Test Driving the 2021 Cadillac Escalade with Andrew Hawkins
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If you've ever spent time leafing through a car magazine or, god forbid, watching car reviews on YouTube, then you know that most of what passes for "...
Humane Streets with Anil Dash
13 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a sense, cars are a bit like the internet comments section of the real world. Driving, like leaving a reply on a message board or posting something...
Mayor Pete at the Drive-Thru
30 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The best thing you can say about 2020 is that it was the year that, well, was. In this year-end roundup, Aaron, Sarah and Doug take some listener voic...
The French Connection
10 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Under the leadership of Mayor Anne Hidalgo, the city of Paris has transformed itself, turning streets that were once clogged with cars into places for...
Cars and the Law with Greg Shill
01 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On Friday, October 30th, just days before the U.S. presidential election, a Biden-Harris campaign bus on I-35 in Texas was followed and surrounded by ...
Honk If You Loved 2020
17 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Automobiles played an oversized role in the news this year, from the country's response to the pandemic to the strange twists and turns of the preside...
Getting the Car Out of Carbon Emissions
03 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It appears that the long-awaited electric car revolution is finally upon us. Are you ready? Are you excited? Last week, General Motors officially laun...
America's Love Affair With Cars
14 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It's often said that Americans have a "love affair" with cars and driving. Where did this oddly specific expression come from? Most people probably as...
Winning the War on Cars in Rural America
29 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Reducing automobile dependence in America's suburbs, small towns, and rural places is a daunting task. But a tiny non-profit organization in Brattlebo...
Right of Way
11 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Angie Schmitt has long been one of the clearest and most passionate voices out there talking about the real price of automobile dependence in the Unit...
Policing the Open Road [Rerelease]
17 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
[This episode was originally released on October 31st, 2019. We're re-releasing it as an end-of-summer extra for new listeners and will be back with n...
Vehicles as Weapons
03 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Using a vehicle as an instrument of terror is nothing new. Over the last decade, extremists proclaiming affiliation with ISIS and other terrorist grou...
Crash Course with Woodrow Phoenix
20 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
"I wrote this book to make you mad." So declares British writer and artist Woodrow Phoenix in the afterward of his new graphic novel Crash Course. Sub...
StreetRidersNYC
30 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the span of one month the StreetRiders have become a major presence in the Black Lives Matter movement in New York. Their weekly bike protests have...
Democracy in the Streets
25 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What are streets for? Who are streets for? And what makes a street feel truly safe, welcoming and comfortable for everyone? On May 25, police officers...
Victory?
22 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As cities around the world have gone into lockdown and instituted social distancing measures to slow the spread of the covid19 pandemic, something une...
"Driving While Black" with Gretchen Sorin
08 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Gretchen Sorin has written a fascinating new book, "Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights," that dives i...
TEASER: PODAPALOOZA for COVID-19 Relief
20 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The War on Cars is taking the stage for Podapalooza, a virtual podcast festival for the benefit of COVID-19 relief, on April 25th and 26th. We'll be r...
It's Zero Percent About Transportation with Alex Brook Lynn
18 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This episode was recorded and originally aired, November 2018. When is a car not a car? When it's a source of solace and comfort, a curbside living...
Cars, Climate and Cities with Bill McKibben
06 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
From his 1989 book The End of Nature, which was the first to explain global warming to a general audience, to co-founding the climate-change activism...
Field Dispatches from Four Continents
29 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this, our second episode of the COVID-19 era, we hear from listeners around the globe about how their cities look and feel. Is it safe to ride tran...
Riding Out the Pandemic
20 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Recording from their makeshift home studios, Sarah, Doug and Aaron check in with each other, field listener voicemails and reorient themselves to the ...
On the Bus with Pat Kiernan and Jamie Stelter
17 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Pat Kiernan and Jamie Stelter are the dynamic duo of local TV news. As two of the hosts of "Mornings on 1" on Spectrum NY1, Pat and Jamie do more than...
Finnish Lessons
04 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What can cold cities, where people nonetheless bike year-round through snow and seemingly endless hours of darkness, tell us about what it takes to ma...